Activist: Rejecting Beck, Evangelicals Would be 'Suicidal'

Israel is in no position to reject the friendship of Evangelical Christians, says a Land of Israel activist.

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David Lev, 24/08/11 00:07

Glenn Beck in Judea

Yoni Kempinski: Arutz Shev

The debate on the intentions of Glenn Beck and other Christian evangelicals rages on, and Dr. Gadi Eshel, a Land of Israel activist, told Arutz 7 Tuesday that he did not believe that Beck's intentions were improper and rejecting the friendship of evangelicals could cause anti-Semitism.

Eshel was responding to comments by Jerusalem City Council member Mina Fenton Monday, who voiced vociferous opposition to Beck's appearance in Jerusalem on Wednesday, saying that his rally was designed to encourage missionary activity. Eshel told Arutz 7 that Christians like Beck supported Israel because they were strong believers in the Bible, and not out of missionary reasons.

“The basic belief of [evangelical, ed.] Christians like Beck is that the Torah [Pentateuch] and Tanach [Bible] are divine in nature and precede the Christian Gospels. This is different than the beliefs of traditional Christians, like Roman Catholics, and even Episcopalians, who participate in boycotts against Israel,” he said.

As such, Eshel said, rejecting the friendship offered unconditionally by Beck and evangelicals in general would be the ultimate in ingratitude.

“Such ingratitude would be an act of suicide,” he said. “This could cause great damage potentially. The paranoia and automatic negative reaction has the potential to cause a great wave of anti-Semitism.”

With all the concerns about the rise of radical Islam and the isolation of Israel even by the U.S., Eshel says, “spitting at and rejecting Israel's most loyal friends would truly be an act of suicide.”